Expert Advice

 
What is your specialty?
 
The reason that I ask is because customers love to buy from specialists. That is, from people they believe are absolute experts in a given area in which the buyer has a high degree of interest.
 
Doctors are great examples. If we are told, God forbid, that we may need to have a quadruple bypass, the chances are that we are not going to seek out just any doctor’s advice. We are going to try to find the best heart specialist we can . . . someone who can convince us that he/she has great knowledge and expertise about open-heart surgery.
 
A more mundane example:
 
Let’s say you are interviewing landscapers and one of your ongoing challenges has been a bare lawn under a patch of oak trees. Along comes a landscaper who says, “You know . . . my specialty is lawns, particularly in shady areas. That’s why so many country clubs hire me.”
 
You see where I’m going with this?
 
It is an interesting exercise and discipline to review your suite of products and services and match them up with the most pressing needs that your prospects and clients bring up again and again. Then, choose a couple and make a commitment to become an absolute master of them, a true expert.
 
Be sure to build a track record of case studies and client endorsements in those focused areas of expertise.
 
It is obviously fine to continue to promote your company’s full suite of products, but there is nothing more powerful, in the buyer’s eyes, than dealing with a specialist that really knows how to address a focused need.